From today's featured article
The tufted jay, also known as the painted jay and Dickey's jay, is a species of bird in the crow family, Corvidae. It is endemic to a small area of the Sierra Madre Occidental in Mexico. A large jay, it has a prominent dark crest on its head; a purplish-blue back, wings, and face; a white spot above the eye and on the cheek; white undersides; and a partially white tail. Its typical call is a quick, four-note vocalization. The relationship between the tufted jay and other members of the genus Cyanocorax has been a subject of interest since the species was first described in 1935. Because of the visual similarities between the tufted jay and the white-tailed jay, the two were thought by some to be closely related. A 2010 mitochondrial-DNA study has shown that the tufted jay is most closely related to a group of South American jays, despite their ranges being separated by more than 2,000 km (1,200 mi). They are likely descended from an ancestral jay that ranged throughout Latin America. (Full article...)
Did you know ...
Mai Murakami
- ... that Mai Murakami (pictured) was the first Japanese female gymnast in 63 years to win a world title?
- ... that Maid Marian in Super Robin Hood was voiced by the developers' mother?
- ... that Charles Throsby Smith led the first British expedition to what became Canberra, and is a founding figure of Wollongong?
- ... that a 1:10 wooden model was used in the acoustic design of Tokyo Opera City Concert Hall?
- ... that historian Jürgen Matthäus used artificial intelligence to help identify Jakobus Onnen as the gunman in The Last Jew in Vinnitsa?
- ... that people routinely morally condemn taboo acts like consensual incest, even though they cannot explain why?
- ... that a petition to restrict the sale of fireworks in New Zealand included 80,000 paw prints?
- ... that FIFA-listed referee Adonis Carrasco signed up for basic training without having ever played football and without knowing any rules?
- ... that Tipat Halav, a network of well-baby care centers, cut infant mortality rates in pre-state Israel by more than 50 percent between 1927 and 1948?
In the news
Osman Hadi
- A mass stabbing in Taipei, Taiwan, leaves four people dead, including the perpetrator.
- Bangladeshi activist Osman Hadi (pictured) is assassinated, triggering violent protests and arson.
- Fatafehi Fakafānua is elected prime minister by the legislative assembly of Tonga.
- Filmmaker and actor Rob Reiner and his wife, Michele, are found stabbed to death in their Los Angeles home.
- José Antonio Kast is elected president of Chile.
On this day
"Silent Night"
- 1818 – The Christmas carol "Silent Night" (audio featured) by Joseph Mohr and Franz Gruber was first performed in a church in Oberndorf bei Salzburg, Austria.
- 1865 – Six Confederate veterans of the American Civil War founded a social club they named the Ku Klux Klan, which later became a white supremacist group.
- 1918 – Forces united in the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes defeated Hungarian forces to end the occupation of Međimurje.
- 1925 – Winnie-the-Pooh first appeared by name in a children's story in the London Evening News.
- 1955 – According to legend, the NORAD Tracks Santa program began after children began calling the Continental Air Defense Command Center to inquire about Santa Claus's whereabouts due to a misprinted phone number in an advertisement.
- Yang Bin (d. 950)
- Johnny Gruelle (b. 1880)
- Anthony Fauci (b. 1940)
- Shūmei Ōkawa (d. 1957)
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Today's featured picture
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The Vela supernova remnant, in the southern constellation Vela, is one of the closest known supernova remnants to Earth, being around 800 light-years away. Its source Type II supernova exploded approximately 11,000 years ago. The association of the Vela supernova remnant with the Vela Pulsar was made by astronomers at the University of Sydney in 1968; this, along with the Crab Pulsar, was among the first direct observational evidence that supernovae form neutron stars. This astrophotograph of the Vela supernova remnant was taken by the European Southern Observatory's VLT Survey Telescope at the Paranal Observatory in Chile in 2022. The image has a field of view of 84 arcminutes and was produced as a mosaic of observations with four filters, here represented by the colours magenta, blue, green and red. The supernova remnant appears as wisps of pink and orange clouds, with stars in blue and yellow scattered throughout. Photograph credit: European Southern Observatory / TIMER survey
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